Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions

by John Langan, Ray Greenley (Reader), Jenn Lee (Reader)

Award-Winning Author John Langan Returns with a New Collection of Stories

A garishly painted figurine contains a terrible curse; the ten-year anniversary of a sensational horror film shot in an abandoned mine reveals stunning secrets; endnotes for a book review uncover a strange high-tech pathogen; a man witnesses something uncanny and unexplained as his friend succumbs to a watery death; a seasick woman aboard a ferry is pursued by a barnacle-covered specter; a professor reveals the mysterious connection between Joseph Conrad and Peter Pan; a man encounters the ghost of his lost sister in a liminal space between the land and sea; an academic meets a mythical creature on a mysterious island…

John Langan, author of the Bram Stoker Award-winning novel The Fisherman, returns with thirteen new tales of cosmic horror in Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions. In these stories, he continues to chart the course of 21st century weird fiction, from the unfamiliar to the familial, the unfathomably distant to the intimate.

Includes extensive story notes and an introduction by Victor LaValle.

Genres: Horror, Short Stories, Fiction, Weird Fiction, Audiobook, Collections, Anthologies

1 pages, Audio CD

First published August 5, 2025

About the author

John Langan is the author of two novels, The Fisherman (Word Horde 2016) and House of Windows (Night Shade 2009), and two collections of stories, The Wide, Carnivorous Sky and Other Monstrous Geographies (Hippocampus 2013) and Mr. Gaunt and Other Uneasy Encounters (Prime 2008). With Paul Tremblay, he co-edited Creatures: Thirty Years of Monsters (Prime 2011). He's one of the founders of the Shirley Jackson Awards, for which he served as a juror during its first three years. Currently, he reviews horror and dark fantasy for Locus magazine.

John Langan lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife, younger son, and many, many animals. He teaches at SUNY New Paltz. He's working toward his black belt in the Korean martial art of Tang Soo Do.

Reviews

[Gyalten Lekden · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lyrical, thought-provoking, and unsettling horror, again and again! I enjoyed every story in this collection and really enjoyed a handful of them. Langan has an ability to modulate his writing and tone from lush, dense and all-encompassing to stripped-back, bare, and unrelenting as needed for each story, which is wonderful. His prose doesn’t tend toward muscular or sleek, though, instead always feeling a little indulgent but in the best of ways. He can create so much character and atmosphere in a single paragraph that his writing always feels like it is under your skin, showing you a new reality from the inside out. His characters are genuine and heartfelt, and each feels perfectly realized in whatever world he places them, (one that probably has an overcast sky and shadows that you can only see moving from the corners of your eyes). Yet his stories have a playfulness to them, even when they are dark, smothering your hopes for a simple world organized by natural laws. His love for and belief in literature is clear in the thematic heft and density of thought (and occasionally prose) that he imbues every story with. He also has mastered the art of a satisfying ending to short form horror. Whether his endings end in his protagonists’ success or their eternal damnation he always manages to give you something unexpected. I find myself gasping out loud, both in glee and horror, at the sheer beauty and audacity at many of these stories, whether that be at the endings’ twist or at some other revelation along the way. He is very light with blood and gore; they exist in some of these stories, but at a distance. Instead, he wants to shock your mind, to fill you with a sense of dread only occasionally relieved by delight but always infiltrating your thoughts. As such his stories feel like a psychological itch, beings that worm their way into your subconscious.

There is a great diversity in this collection in terms of style: one story is told entirely in endnotes, another is almost entirely a (fictional?) dialogue between father and son on a car ride, while yet another takes the form of a magazine article about the 10-year anniversary of the re-release of a cult horror film and interview with that film’s director. Not all the stories are experimental or have meta elements, but Langan elevates even the simplest structure with prose that is inviting and all-embracing.

The penultimate piece in this collection started as an essay for Becky Siegel Spratford’s recent collection Why I Love Horror, but as it blossomed into being 4x the request word count it found a home in this collection, and in it he explains his continued and perpetual love for the genre by writing a horror story within the essay, talking about the artistic choices that get to be made, the way it affects the reader, the way it affects the writer, the relationships and ideas the genre always to take center stage, and more. How he manages to combine a non-fiction, personal essay with a compelling horror story stripped to its barest of bones is a testament to his command of the craft. In her introduction to the essay he eventually turned in Becky Siegel Spratford refers to him as “the author of your favorite horror author’s favorite horror novel of this century,” and each of the stories in this collection, as weird, disquieting, and surreal as many of them may be, are similar celebrations of his talent and skill.

(Also, he includes Story Notes at the end which explain the genesis of each story and so on, and while the stories easily stand on their own without this it is a really wonderful addition to the book, helping the reader feel invited into his world).

[Brennan LaFaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've said it before and I'll undoubtedly say it again: John Langan is one of the top, if not the top, modern horror writer churning out short fiction. His ability to turn on a dime from literary to pulp is worthy of study, and as a writer, I often find myself trying to do just that before being whisked away into the narrative. Lost in the Dark seems to embrace meta/experimental structures in greater number than previous collections, sometimes acting as a nod to Tremblay's work. Think footnotes in a text, a reader email pointing out errors, a documentary, an essay on the genre, all spun into story, with Langan, on more than one occasion, inserting himself into the mix. If meta is not your thing, there is plenty to love in the rest of the collection. My favorite entry was "Oscar Returns From the Dead, Prophesying", a story about a possessed gecko that should be ridiculous, and winds up being the most terrifying entry in the collection. Other stand-outs include "Haak", "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs", and "Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror".

[Tom L · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Langan’s latest anthology, Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions is another winner from the most consistently creative horror author working today.

To me the most stand out story of the bunch was Natalya, Queen of Hungry Dogs. A friend goes to help another friend at the end of his life resolve issues from a near death experience as a child. This story captures reminiscing with a friend on the good times so perfectly and then drives right in to balls-to-the-walls horror / adventure as the two plunge in to the beyond to fight the forces of darkness from his past.

Breakwater was also an outstanding revenge story that was wonderfully crafted from start to finish.

As John Langan has done in the past, he includes “story notes” which provide bits of insights to the stories. I find myself flipping to the back of the book after each story to read the associated story note right away.

I highly recommend all of John Langan’s work, and Lost in the Dark and Other Excursions is a worthy continuation of his style and work.

Thank you to publisher Word Horde for a digital advanced reader copy!

[Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know I have said this before, but Langan is my favorite living author. When I read him I feel like I am entering a Hellenic Temple, not restored or abandoned, but one which never stopped being used. Its only update in the past two millennium being a kind of gothic ornateness acquired in the middle ages and seamlessly grafted on top.

As usual, the eponymous story is the best in the collection, though my personal favorite was Breakwater- a rare example of me not choosing the novella length tales as I usually do.

My only nitpick is "The Shetlands?" Come on John, its Shetland. Just like its Orkney and not "The Orkneys". But I jest in good humor. Ive been to both back in the day when I used to live in Scotland. They really are the best places to take a trip to.

I also must reiterate a point on Langan's work that I have made before: his inclusion of detailed author notes at the end that provide context for each story should be standard practice for every story collection. Its best to leave these until done with everything else and then consume them all at once at the end, seeing the process of idea to authorship and the context that brings it about.

[Curtis · Rating 5 out of 5]

People always hype up how insightful the Story Notes are in the back of the book, then you flip to them and it always boils down to "So I got invited to write for an anthology and the theme was werewolves so I thought, hey, maybe I should write a werewolf story."

[Gatorman]

Had to DNF this one. The stories are so boring and go nowhere interesting. Can't continue this for another 200 or so pages. Oh well.

[Tobin Elliott · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Around us, the air is laden with the conversation and laughter of our fellow diners, but I am talking to you, directly to you, telling you a story that is only for you."

That quote, more than anything sums up the genius of John Langan's writing. He can go deep into a character, or spin the most fantastically weird situation, or relate a scene that could be straight out of your own life, but all the time he's doing it, he's talking to you, directly to you.

Langan writes with a comfortable intimacy that draws the reader in. He shows us the mundane in a new way that makes it interesting, before shattering that mundane with an incredible dread.

And this is why I'm so enamoured with Langan...he scratches that horror itch that many horror authors blithely pass right on by as they detail gory scene after gory scene... Langan slows down and allows you to feel the dread of possibility, the fear of what might happen, of what occurred in that dark area you couldn't quite see clearly.

The front half of this book is stacked with brilliant story after brilliant story. The centrepiece story, "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs" didn't quite hit as I'd hoped it would, and while I wasn't crazy about "Alice's Rebellion"—mainly because it takes a LOT to get me to enjoy anything ALICE IN WONDERLAND-related these days, I did appreciate the underlying message. And, while "Snakebit" was interesting, and had some great bits, it felt like it had overstayed its welcome a bit (though the quote at the beginning of this review does come from it).

Even with all that, the weakest of the stories here still had a lot to love, and the first eight are each knocked-out-of-the-park homerun exercises in horror storytelling.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Langan is one of my absolute top, favorite authors, and I've mostly loved everything I've read by him. Until now. It's not a bad collection of stories, it's just not nearly his best work. There were three stories included that I'd read in their previous publications, but as two were among the longest in the book I didn't bother rereading them, and the third, "Breakwater," I did reread only to realize it was a decent, but no great tale. While "Lost in the Dark" stood out as the most captivating story in the book, others just couldn't keep my interest - mainly "My Father, Dr. Frankenstein" and "Snakebit," which started as an essay for the Why I Love Horror essay anthology but ended up being a much longer piece of writing Langan instead included here, which failed to interest me in fully reading (part of the issue was likely due to it heavily relying on John Keats' poem "Lamia" which I've never read and knew little about). I'm disappointed I just couldn't relate to this latest collection more, but I'll call it 3.5* rounded to 4.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a pretty eclectic collection; there's no theme or throughline to tie them all together (not that that's a bad thing). The quality of writing here is high, but some tales are more satisfying than others. There's also a handful of self-inserts and stories which are grim takes on already existing public domain books, both of which I find distracting. If you don't share my hang-ups then go for it, it's still very enjoyable.

Natanya is the clear standout here for me, 10/10.

For quick takes on the individual stories, check below!


Madame Painte: For Sale - Excellent snack. In and out, sufficiently creepy, loved it.
Lost in the Dark - It's interesting but there are maybe one too many layers and it becomes cumbersome. Guy doing interview with a director who did an interview on a DVD commentary where they recall a story told by a classmate that is then told in the movie (although the details are slightly changed) then we step out of all those layers to watch the original footage with the classmate who told the original tale ahhhh. In all its pretty effective but yeah just too many layers that are too similar for my ADHD brain.
My Father, Dr. Frankenstein - This is an interesting idea, to read the footnotes for a book but not the book itself. Some fluff in here that gives me House of Leaves vibes but overall it's fine.
A Song Only Partially Heard - Not crazy about this one, the happenings are somewhat confusing (Seemingly a workplace accident saved a man from being killed by a mermaid? I feel like the mermaid can't cause a rotor to fly off and kill a guy but what do I know. Also she ate very little of him in the end so I don't think that was what was going on) and it ends so abruptly we don't really get to know anyone or have much happen.
The Deep Sea Swell - I enjoyed this one. It's a little on the nose to be haunted by the thing your friend just told you about but it's a short story so I guess we have to cut to the chase. Pretty cool and creepy.
Haak - More fantastical than horrific but still liked it. A little on the nose (again) that he is obviously the Pan described in his story and then he mega confirms it for you at the very end. I get the sort of Peter Pan elements we're doing but I don't know if there's much more to it
Breakwater - I liked this one for the most part but the end is crazy abrupt again. I'm fine with an ambiguous ending but it shouldn't really be at the climax of the story imo
Errata - If I pretend it's not a self insert it's a pretty creepy concept. I liked it.
Natanya - Fuckin sick, this is what I came for. Good characters, very creepy, great ending. There's enough space to breathe here that he ingredients that interlink do so naturally. If I had to nitpick at all I'd say they explained a touch too much about the mechanics near the end, but that's probably just personal preference.
Oscar Returns - Despite a goosebumpsian premise it's actually pretty effective.
Alice's Rebellion - There's something compelling about the idea of sense spreading through wonderland like a memetic virus, but I don't really care for Alice in Wonderland so the references didn't land and the limited arc of the plot didn't save it for me.
Snakebit - This is a very meta story where Langan steps in regularly to speak with us the reader, changes some details on the fly, and talks poetically about his inspirations for the tale he's actively weaving. Weird one for me, it's like having a tasty meal described to you rather than just eating it yourself. It is a unique package but again I'd rather just eat the meal.
Clapping Teeth - So short it's barely worth mentioning. There could be something here if it was expanded upon.

[Esther · Rating 3 out of 5]

i don't understand why it's so hard for horror writers to break the three stars barrier with me. i'm literally so generous and this is my third in a row. but anyway:

madame painte: a nice little appetiser. not substantial enough to rate

lost in the dark: decent 6/10. starts very strong and i like the ending well enough. the movie the story is about is fucking terrible and i can't believe the narration called it 'a smarter Blair Witch' at one point, but that could all have been intentional. got a couple of chuckles out of me even if it was mostly a slog to read

a song only partially heard: 2/10. blegh

the deep sea swell: a high 6, maybe a 7. enjoyed the concept and the execution was pretty good, though the ending veers into scooby doo territory

natalya, queen of the hungry dogs: a high 7. loved the concept, made my heart beat fast at times. could have been a 9 with some light touches (the drinking scene does nothing and goes on forever only to unceremoniously drop all the meat of the story on our heads on the next scene. CUT DOWN THE REDDIT TIER BANTER, SPECIALLY AFTER THE SITUATION GETS SERIOUS) and a 10 if on top of that it also got a satisfying ending.

oscar returns from the dead, prophesising: a high 7. more consistent than natalya but also infinitely less ambitious and creative. pretty fun, though

there are a few more stories in the collection, which i either didn't finish or left to read at a later date. overall, a pretty solid collection. very nice ideas even if the stories don't always land on their feet. cute sense of humour too. will definitely read The Fisherman in the future

[Ali · Rating 3 out of 5]

I usually love Langan's short stories and i go in knowing they'll be a bit wordy and cerebral but these stories just seemed a bit dry and did not hold my interest much. I think it would be a stretch to really call this a horror collection. The writing is still great, I just wasn't engaged with most of the stories. The titular story was probably my favorite and had the most eerie atmosphere. It was a fun idea of his to make several of the stories seem like they were things that actually occurred by inserting himself and other authors or people he deals with.
While this one was a bit of a dud for me i will still be eagerly anticipating his next release.

[Lewis Housley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Praise the gods for John Langan. This collection is fantastic, all the stories are top-notch. In John's work, you don't just experience the stories, he pulls you into them until you are a co-conspirator. On top of being just damned fine works of Weird Fiction, John brings so much heart to it that you can't help but, as the kids say, feel all the feels.

Amazing work, highly recommended.

[myreadingescapism · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️

[Micah Hall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Haak and Lost in the Dark are worth it alone. Best read with space between stories.

[Maya J. Lujan · Rating 4 out of 5]

What an interesting collection of short stories! I have never read any of John Langan's work, but I was wholly surprised at the uniqueness of his writing style. I can't say I've read anything quite like it, and I was not disappointed! I also appreciated that some of the stories were on the longer side, as short stories can feel a little TOO short sometimes. I had a hard time putting this down.

Some favorites amongst the collection:

Madame Painte: Short little story about a creepy and possessed garden gnome wreaking havoc when warnings aren't heeded.

Lost in the Dark: This was hands down my favorite. Totally unique storytelling and creepy as hell.

Haak: Interesting take on the god Pan, as well as the Peter Pan story. I loved it.

Breakwater: Witchy revenge. Check! But what did she decide?!

Natalya, Queen of the Dogs: While this was definitely horror filled, it also felt like a sweet tribute to a friend.

Alice's Rebellion: I mean, I'm a sucker for an Alice retelling. This one was WEIRD, but in a good way.

Champing Teeth and Driving Beats: Short and to the point. And it made me chuckle.

My ONLY critique is that one or two of the stories felt a little long-winded, but that is probably just a stylistic preference on my part. I would definitely recommend this one to anyone looking for unique and interesting writing full of horror elements.

Thank you to Word Horde Publishing for the ARC!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Jay Rothermel · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Langan is the first horror writer since David Morrell to excel at "dialogue as action." 

His new collection, Lost In the Dark and Other Excursions, includes stories published between 2017 and 2020, as well as two works not previously published.

"Madame Painte: For Sale"
A sparkling concatenation of points of view: first, third, and finally second person, present and future tense. To say it explores a dangerous and inaniment garden gnome from Denmark only scratches the bravura surface.

"Lost in the Dark"
A wonderful found reportage/found footage framing contains a  report by John Langan, similar to an online post about "Blair Witch" or Jeff Strand's "Twentieth Anniversary Screening"(2021). It's all there in the fan-loving IMDB entry.

"My Father, Dr. Frankenstein
Cold War bioengineering sleight-of-hand plus the sons -doomed-by-fathers motif of U. S. fiction.

"A Song Only Partially Heard"
Angels and fatal workplace injuries are imaged, and chewed-over until transformed into holy things.

"The Deep Sea Swell"
Sea-sickness. The vertigo inherent in a passage over sunken Doggerland. Will the dead soon board, or have they already?

"Haak"
College professor gives an optional lecture on personal sources of Conrad's "Heart of Darkness" in a red-litten classroom.

"Breakwater"
Private dick thinks she is turning the tables on the spouse of her client, whom she fell for while investigating him for adultery.

   The screen of Maureen’s computer flickered, and the image of Frank disappeared, to be replaced by the gmail login page, on which was the message “Error: Account Not Found.” A second later, a pop sounded inside the computer’s tower, and the screen went black. The machine sighed, and the power light blinked off. A strong odor of burnt plastic and metal issued from the stack. Maureen spent the next several minutes attempting to resuscitate it, but whatever malware Louise had employed had reduced the computer to an oversized paperweight. Maureen checked her phone, but it showed no evidence of her e-mail account, either. As more and more of her business had involved an online component, Maureen had armored her PC with successive firewalls, a squadron of the most efficient anti-malware available. For Louise to have slipped through all of it was more than a little intimidating. Maureen’s phone buzzed; she checked it, only to discover it, too, had been rendered inert.


"Errata"
"errata made flesh or…whatever."
Author John Langan gets some troubling news about certain copies of his books.

   When I glanced back at the tablet, the screen had gone black. Ross’s voice said, “I’m really sorry,” and cut out. I pressed the power button a couple of times, to no effect. (Later, the repair guy in town would tell me the device was hopelessly dead, its circuits melted. “What’d you do to this?” he asked; I had no good answer for him.)


"Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs"
Cancer. Riptides. Brothers and Sisters. Crown. Limbo.
This is a superb work of short fiction. Straubian par excellence in its depiction of a horrific, compelling after-life brother-and-sister showdown.

"Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing"
Remember when the Three Stooges took up plumbing? Or the dad in "The Coffee Table" supervised the baby and the titular table while his wife went to the grocery store?  "Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing" is a slow motion reality-warping trainwreck, delightful and meticulous, then eerie, then hopeless for the protagonist.

"Alice's Rebellion"
Fairy tale action. Of a sort.

"Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror"
A story disguised as notes for a story. A writer's diary predicting future criss-crossings of life. A tale about an isolated eyelet where sculptures and an avatar have a famous woman recluse linger to excite the imagination and responsibility of husband and wife professionals, each for their own reasons.

"Clapping Teeth and Driving Beats"
A prose poem of sorts. The shortest Langan work I have read.

[….] The other thing about zombies in the spring—it has to do with music. As the weather improves, people open the windows of their houses, their cars, turn up whatever’s on DST or Spotify or on disc or record.

* * *

In his introduction to Lost In the Dark and Other Excursions, Victor LaValle notes many of Langan's strengths. I added hashtags to those I found most correct:

#tremendous

#knotty

#discursive

#thorny

#weighty

#invigorating

#substantial

#playfulness

#wit

#funny

#playful

#effective

#masterpiece

#wonder

#satisfying

* * *

I agree with LaValle.

[Johan Haneveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

10- I thoroughly enjoyed this collection by my favourite living horror author, whose short stories to me approach perfection (even if I would sometimes wish for a bit more clarity in the endings, the 'not knowing exactly what happens' is obviously part of the horror). As always Langan manages to unsetle the reader with suggestion, avoiding obvious scare tactics and blood and gore, trusting on associations and implications and his great prose creating a great sense of atmosphere. He has a knack for describing characters, making you instantly involved in their lives and then their assumptions crumbling down. And asides from that he is not afraid to experiment. He has stories here that take the form of footnotes to a non-existing novel ('My Father, Dr. Frankenstein') and an article about a horror-movie - that use the form to create doubt as to the reality of what is described in a very effective way. Also he does not shy away from regular horror-creatures, ending up in the abstract. No, there is a zombie here (albeit a zombie gecko), a scary garden gnome and a lamia. Also there is a lot of intertextuality (besides mentions of fellow horror authors and some meta commentary on his own work), with a tale about Alice in Wonderland (commenting on our current situation as a society in a brilliant and scary way) and one about Peter Pan (with Joseph Conrad thrown in the mix).
Thematically there is a lot to say about this collection, that more than any earlier collection of Langan seems to deal with religious themes. The afterlife, and the mystery thereof, is in important part - explicitly so in several stories, but mainly in 'Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs', where a man spending time with his friend who is dying is asked to accompany him on a strange journey. This one was scary and surprising. The theme of faces or depictions thereof being changed on one side, mostly the eye being a hole, returns as well - suggesting to me a distortion of perception, or how we cannot trust our perception. The third theme is that of the sea and water and the coast - with journeys across the ocean and waves devouring coastlines and islands take place (also in Natalya). The idea - to me - seems to be that oceans and what is under water is unknoweable, unpredictable, and if you go under you mostly cannot rise up to tell about what happens under water - this being true for death as well. What we have are stories - of near death experiences of religious experiences - but with stories we have to decide whether we trust them. We build our convictions on stories often coming to us from past generations, told and retold. In this collection story telling seems a theme as well, like in the title story, 'Lost in the Dark', or in 'Snakebit', that is all tell and no show. But it still works.
I like these kind of horror stories a lot. In 2026 there will be a new novel from Langan, following on from his 'The Fisherman', and he has also written a Conan The Barbarian-novel. I look forward to reading them both. And any new short story collection he decides to publish!

[Cory Brock · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having only previously read The Fisherman, I wasn't aware just how much John Langan plays with how a story is told. I really enjoyed the different approaches he took in this collection, and enjoyed the majority of the stories overall (not all of them hit for me, but I could at least appreciate what he was doing).

If you're not familiar with what I'm referring to, just understand that Langan apparently likes to convey narratives in a non-traditional manner (not always, but it definitely seems to be his thing). This is especially apparent in the titular story "Lost in the Dark" (which I'd previously read, and had since forgotten about, in Ellen Datlow's anthology Haunted Nights), in which the majority of the narrative is told via a summary of movie scenes. Another example is "Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror" which has Langan telling a story by explaining how he, as a writer, would build the story. It's all very different and very unique, and it's fun to read (though I don't think I could binge his work; it gets to be a bit much after a while).

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection, and I'd like to track down more of his shorter work. While I enjoyed The Fisherman, I can't say I loved it, and it may have had something to do with length. I think Langan works much better for me in short form.

[Aaron Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another pretty decent collection of Langan stories here, with a smattering of major standouts and perhaps, for me anyway, a couple of duds.

The titular 'Lost in the Dark' struck me as an especially well executed take on dark historical truth shrouded deeply in mystery, turned small town urban legend and local haunt, turned total pop culture phenomenon. It wears its influences pretty strongly (The Blair Witch Project) but never in a way I found distracting, and only serves as a vessel for this tale to be delivered. it's no surprise it serves as the collections namesake.

Other hits for me were 'Madame Painte: For Sale' (some of the gruesome visuals are stuck with me), 'Haak' (Peter Pan reinvented for the dark fantasy horror fan) 'Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs' (literally the type of story that keeps me hooked on Langan) and I really appreciated the little bits of connective tissue between 'A Song Only Partially Heard' and 'The Deep Sea Swell' (lots of nautical themes happening in this here collection).

My enjoyment of the other stories here wandered from boredom to tedium at times, but I can't say there's one here I disliked so much that I couldn't find some merits in. Well, maybe the one tagged on zombie story at the very end... whenever Langan writes about zombies it rolls of my brain like water off a ducks ass.

[Melissa Leitner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read various short pieces of Langan's work in anthologies, but this is my first time reading a collection that is solely comprised of his work. I think taking the collection as a whole really highlights how masterful Langan is at crafting a dread-inducing narrative. He has such a firm grasp on the ability to pace a story correctly that no matter how long a story is, I never wanted to stop reading. Every single story in this collection is memorable, whether they were a few pages long or over fifty. Some highlights for me were the titular Lost in the Dark, Haak, and Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing. The opening story was a fantastic way to let the reader know the types of stories that the rest of the collection included, while the end story left me with such a silly smirk on my face. The last story is among the shortest (if not the shortest) in the collection and really drives home Langan's ability to tackle humor in such a compelling (and still horrific) way. If you haven't already read Langan and you are a horror fan, you need to.

[John Rennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first book by John Langan that I've read so I didn't know what to expect. Reading other reviews of his books suggests he is a thoughtful writer rather than a purveyor of gore, and I'd go along with that. I found the stories here interesting rather than horrifying, though admittedly it's been a few decades since I was horrified by a book - these days I'm mostly horrified by what humans do to each other in real life.

Anyhow I enjoyed the book though I found the stories a mixed bag. Some, like "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs", are fairly straightforward while others are on the cerebral side, but I found all of them interesting. Langan clearly likes exploring lots of different ideas and it's good to see an author having fun with their writing.

If you like "slasher horror" then you should probably look elsewhere, but for the rest of us I recommend this book as an entertaining way to explore some interesting ideas.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love a new John Langan collection to check out. This, his sixth collection, is, as usual, a mostly fantastic one. It's got great stories, most of which are fantastic horror (and a couple are quite funny). After this first read, my standouts would have to include: "Haak", "Lost in the Dark", "Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs", "Oscar Returns From the Dead, Prophesizing", and "Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror". I say check it out!

[hollowman78 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another solid Langan collection that would've been better had he known when to stop. Not every neat idea needs its own story. That's a late era Metallica move.

[B P · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't resonate with this collection as I did with Langan's previous works.

[Lexi · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only horror here was how long some of these stories were.

[Derek Carls · Rating 2 out of 5]

Gosh, I wanted to just love this. Overly verbose, overly cutesy clever. Didn’t gel with me at all.

[A · Rating 2 out of 5]

There were a couple of good stories like "Lost in the Dark" and "Haak". Overall, this collection was my least favorite thing I've read by Langan.

[Skejven · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic collection of stories, some better, some a little bit worse, but all of them definetly worth reading. After reading The Fisherman I knew Langan would become one of my favourite writes, and this consolides that. What I really like about his stories is that they're very personal, written from a very clear masculine perspective, but with great depth of characters and a just a respectful approach to their relationships and struggles. A lot of the stories are also written in very unique way, either by their format or the insertion of John himself into them.
9/10

Madame Painte: For Sale:
Collection I think starts a little bit weak, I didn't mind the story, but I also didn't find it scary or that much interesting.
6/10

Lost in the Dark:
Definetly a highlight! Good story elevated to a fantastic experience due to the format it is written in.
9/10

My Father, Dr. Frankenstein:
Another very interesting story which shines due to the format it's written in (footnotes), really adds to the authentic feel of the story.
8/10

A Song Only Partially Heard:
Very short and not as interesting, although I did like the ending.
6/10

The Deep Sea Swell:
Found it super engaging and illustrative! Short, but sweet with great ending.
9/10

Haak:
Very interesting fake story about Józef Teodor Korzeniowski, really liked the descriptions in it, although I felt the ending a lil bit on the weaker side.
8/10

Breakwater:
Noir story without much horror, was fine, but didn't find it that engaging.
7/10

Errata:
Honestly super fun little story, another cool format!
8/10

Natalya, Queen of the Hungry Dogs:
Longest story in the collection. Honestly? Im surprised but I liked the background stories of characters and the not "supernatural" events more than the horrors. Granted they were cool as well, especially the first supernatural encounter.
7/10

Oscar Returns from the Dead, Prophesizing:
Great little story with a very strong ending!
8/10

Alice's Rebellion:
Tbh I have to reread it, I was sleepy while reading it and can't remember much unfortunetly, which is probably why I feel like I didn't like it as much.

Snakebit, Or Why I (Continue to) Love Horror:
Another fantastic ending for the story, the plot before was also engaing, although I'm not sure if I totally dig the essay format of this one, I still liked the hell out of it!
9/10

Clapping Teeth and Driving Beats:
Story purely for fun, I liked it!
7/10

[Michael Bertrand · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lost in the Dark is a collection of short stories. I usually avoid collections because I prefer a long sustained novel narrative over the start and stop required by short stories. But Lost in the Dark had one that sounded like a riff on The Blair Witch Project, so I picked it up.

I should have left it on the shelf.

Lost in the Dark contains 13 short stories. I read six of them before quitting. In order of interest:

1. Lost in the Dark. The eponymous story is about the author, Langan, interviewing the director of a Blair Witch type film. The director reveals that it wasn't all fiction- that the project began as a documentary and that real supernatural weirdness happened. I was hoping this short story would be on par with The October Film Haunt, another Blair Witch Project inspired work that knocked my socks off. Well, this one didn't. The backstory behind the documentary bored me. It sounded like a mash-up of Blair Witch, Paranormal Activity, and the Exorcist. And having served my time as clergy in the Episcopal Church, the Roman Catholic Church doesn't seem spooky to me. I picked up the collection for this story and found it boring.
2. Madame Painte. It's about a cursed garden gnome. I couldn't take it seriously.
3. My Father, Dr. Frankenstein. Told entirely through end notes to a work that the reader can't read (because it doesn't exist)- it's not really a story. There's no real beginning, middle, or end. And it's hard to tell who the main character is supposed to be. And no, it's not actually about Dr. Frankenstein. Still, the experimental approach makes it interesting.
4. A Song Only Partially Heard. A mermaid causes a shipyard accident and then eats part of a corpse. At least, I think that's what happens.
5. Deep Sea Swell. A woman travelling from the Shetland Islands to the mainland via a sea-ferry encounters a ghost during a storm. Not scary and not especially interesting.
6. Haack. A retelling of Peter Pan. Again, not scary and not especially interesting.

Overall, I found the author's style to be too wordy for my tastes. He's quite accomplished and appears to be well known in the horror-scene. There was minimal gore & violence in the stories I read, which is something I greatly appreciated. But where MR James' style worked in the early 20th century- it does not work today for a contemporary author.

But then, tastes vary.